Grain car doorway bulkhead



Feb. 14, 1956 B. H. FORD ETAL 2,734,567

GRAIN CAR DOORWAY BULKHEAD Filed April 50, 1953 M'J FORD INVENTORS zg W United States Patent '0 GRAIN CAR DOORWAY BULKHEAD Barton H. Ford and Michael J. Ford, Omaha, Nehr Application April 30, 1953, Serial No. 352,232

4 Claims. (Cl. 160-368) The instant invention relates to railway grain car doors and has for an object to provide a bulkhead which may be readily installed across the doorway openings of said doors.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction which is comparatively inexpensive to manufacture and with respect to the prior devices heretofore employed.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a device for the foregoing purposes which may be readily and economically attached to the side iambs of said doorway.

Other and further objects and advantages of the invention will be understood from the following detailed description thereof.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the new device applied in a position of use to the inner side surfaces of the side jambs of a doorway opening of a grain car, certain portions of the latter being broken away and others being depicted in section.

Figure 2 is an enlarged transverse section of a portion of the new device, the view being taken substantially on line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section taken on line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring now to the drawing for a more particular description, an upper portion of a sidewall of a grain car is indicated at It). The said wall is provided with an opening 12.

A horizontally disposed lintel bar 14 is provided across the opening 12.

Oppositely disposed side jambs or posts are respectively .indicated at 16 and 18.

The floor of the grain car is indicated at 20 and the lower portion of said sidewall at 22.

As best shown in Figure 2, the jamb 18 is approximately rectangular in cross section, being formed of wood such as four-by-four timber or the like.

The foregoing minutely described parts are conventional.

The new device includes a lower section 24 and at least one upper section 26.

Referring to Figure 1, the lower section is provided with an aperture 28 and a like aperture 30, said apertures being respectively disposed through the section 24 adjacent the ends thereof. The section 24 is further provided with further like apertures 32 and 34 which, during use, are disposed above the first mentioned apertures and in aproximate vertical alignment therewith.

As best shown in Figure 2, a comparatively thin steel band 36 is disposed through the aperture 28, said band being also disposed through the aperture 30, as best shown in Figure l, in a manner whereby the end portions of said band extend across the jambs 16 and 18 respectively and the medial major portion of the band is disposed between said jarnbs.

A major portion of the band 36 is disposed on that side of the section 24 which is outwardly with respect to the interior of the grain car and, as best shown in Figure 2, the end portions of said band are disposed on the inner side of the section 24.

As thus described, it will be understood that the major portion of the band 36 extends in parallelism with the section 24 and at the outer side of said section, as best shown in Figure 2.

The ends of the band 36 are respectively provided with nail holes 38 for each receiving a nail therethrough and through the adjacent end portions of the section 24, said end portions of the section being disposed between the confronting surfaces of the jambs and said steel straps.

The nails 40, as best shown in Figure 2, are of double headed type, being provided with a collar 42 for limiting the entrance of the nails into the wooden jambs while, at the same time, providing flared heads 44 which may be readily engaged by the claws of a crowbar hammer or the like for withdrawing the nails at desired times.

The section 24 is provided with a flange or flap 46 which extends the entire length of said section, said flange, during use, being disposed at a right angle to said section and resting upon the floor 20 of the car, as best shown in Figure 2.

If desired, the flap 46 may be nailed or otherwise suit ably secured to the floor 20.

The upper section 26 is of like construction except that the portion 48 thereof which is complemental to the flange 46 extends, during use, over the upper edge of the section 24 and towards the interior of the car, as best shown in Figure 3.

The section 26 is likewise provided with apertures adjacent the ends thereof for reception therethrough of further bands 50 and 52, said bands being of like construction with respect to the band 54 of the lower section 24.

'All of the bands are of like construction being provided with nail holes at the ends thereof for securing said bands to the jambs as heretofore described and with respect to the band 36. It will be understood that any number of bands may be employed and that, for convenience of illustration, but two bands are shown for each of the said sections. Referring to Figure 2, 56 indicates a quantity of loose grain disposed on the floor 20 of the car, and it will be understood that at times when the interior of the car is loaded with loose grain, such as shelled kernels of corn, kernels of wheat or the like, and to the approximate level of the upper edge of the section 26, the weight of said grain compacts the flap 46 of the lower section 24 firmly against the upper surface of the floor 24, whereby said fiap is correspondingly anchored with respect to said floor. The mass of grain above the flap provides a pressure in the direction of the arrow 58 and against the vertically disposed portions of said sections, said pressure being resisted by means of the said steel bands to a suflicient extent for preventing a rupturing of the heavy cardboard or strawboard section 24 and 26.

The said pressure of said grain also presses the end portions of said sections against the jambs, whereby it is not necessary to provide said sections with a vertically disposed reinforcement such as the above described steel bands. The latter are comparatively thin and inexpensive but of suflicient tensile strength for the purpose.

In operation at times when the carload of grain reaches its destination and in order to unload the grain, an operator employs a hatchet or the like for providing an aperture through the lower section 24 adjacent the floor 20 of the car for permitting grain to flow outwardly through said apertures and from adjacent the doorway opening 12 after which the balance of the car is unloaded in a conventional manner.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that a grain car doorway bulkhead constructed in accordance with our invention, is particularly well adapted for use by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will also be obvious that our invention is susceptible of some change and modification without departing from the principles and spirit thereof, and for this reason we do not wish to be understood as limiting ourselves to the pre cise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out our invention in practice, except as claimed.

We claim:

1. A bulkhead for the doorway opening of a grain car having a jamb at each side of said doorway comprising an upper section and a lower section, said sections each being formed of a single sheet of cardboard provided with a plurality of apertures adjacent each of their ends; metallic bands having end portions disposed through said apertures, said bands each being provided with a nail hole adjacent each of their ends; a flap portion for each section, the flap of the lower section being arranged to be disposed at a right angle with respect to the main body portion of said lower section and upon the floor of said car for anchoring said flap and its section with respect to said floor at times when the weight of a mass of grain is disposed upon said flap, the flap of the upper section being arranged to overlap the upper portion of the lower section at the inwardly disposed surface of said lower section for preventing a leakage of grain through said sections adjacent said overlap at times when said car is loaded with said grain; and nails adapted to be driven through the apertures of said bands and adjacent portions of said sections into said jambs for maintaining said bulkhead in an operative position "prior to said loading, said bands being spaced apart and having the major portion of their length disposed at the outer sides of said sections toward said doorway for preventing the pressure of a mass of loose grain disposed against the inner sides of said sections from rupturing the latter.

2. In a bulkhead for the doorway opening of a grain car having a jamb at each side of said doorway, a section for said bulkhead formed of a single sheet of cardboard and having a plurality of vertically spaced apertures adjacent each end of said sheet; a plurality of metallic bands having end portions disposed through said apertures, said bands being provided with a nail hole adjacent each of their ends; a flap portion for said section formed integral with the latter, the length of said flap being approximately equal to said section and to said bands; and nails adapted to be driven through the apertures of said bands and through adjacent portions of the ends of said section for securing the ends of said section respectively to said jambs, said bands being spaced apart and having the major portion of their length disposed on the outside of said section for supporting the intermediate portion of the section against the weight of grain positioned against the inner surface thereof.

3. As a new article of manufacture a bulkhead for the doorway opening of a grain car, a sheet of cardboard of greater length than the width of said doorway and having a plurality of apertures adjacent each end of said sheet; a plurality of spaced apart metallic bands having end portions disposed through said apertures and the intermediate portions being positioned on the outside of said sheet of cardboard for supporting the bulkhead, said end portions each being provided with a nail hole, the distance between the nail holes of each band being greater than the width of said doorway and lesser than the length of said cardboard; and a flap secured to one edge of said sheet, the length of said flap being approximately equal to the length of said sheet.

4. In a grain car door, the combination which comprises a plurality of sheets of material adapted to be positioned across the inside of a railway car door with the ends of said sheets resting against posts at the sides of the door, the lowermost of said sheets of material having a relatively wide flap on the lower edge and said flap being adapted to be positioned upon the floor of the railway car against the posts of which the ends of the sheets of material are positioned, said flap being adapted to be secured by fasteners to the floor of the railway car, the lower edge of an upper sheet of material being extended over the upper edge of the said lowermost sheet of material reinforcing said sheets of material, said sheets of material having vertically spaced vertically positioned slots therein and said slots being spaced inwardly from the ends of the sheets of material and also spaced from the posts at the sides of the door, steel bands having nail holes in the ends extended across the outer surfaces of said sheets of material supporting said sheets of material against the weight of grain positioned against the inner surfaces thereof and positioned with the ends thereof extended through said slots and positioned against the inner sur faces of the sheets of material whereby said nail holes are exposed to facilitate driving nails through the bands and sheets of material and into said posts, and nails having collars spaced from heads thereof, to facilitate withdrawing the nails, extended through the nail holes of the bands and through the sheets of material into the posts.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED-STATES PATENTS 1,871,101 Waltz Aug. 9, 1932 2,116,260 Corkran May 3, 1938 2,310,860 Moon Feb. 9, 1943 2,595,087 Leslie Apr. 29, 1952 

